Comey Agrees To Publicly Testify As President Trump Heads Overseas

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — President Trump is now in Saudi Arabia for his first overseas trip in office. Early Saturday he was presented with a medal at the Saudi Royal Court.

The president’s trip comes as several controversies back home continue to engulf his administration.

Fired FBI director James Comey has agreed to publicly testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The committee announced Friday night that Comey will appear at an opening hearing on Capitol Hill sometime after Memorial Day.

It will be the first time we hear from Comey in person since President Donald Trump let him go on May 9, igniting a firestorm, CBS2’s Andrea Grymes reported. He’s expected to discuss the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election, as well as his firing.

The announcement came just hours after the New York Times reported that Trump told Russian diplomats that firing the “nut job” FBI director had relieved “great pressure” on him.

The newspaper cites the White House’s official written account of the Oval Office meeting. It says one official had read quotations to the Times and another had confirmed the broad outlines of the discussion.

Friday’s report quotes Trump calling ousted FBI Director James Comey “crazy” and “a real nut job.” It says the president then told Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador that he “faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.”

“People are seeing things that they think are wrong, and that most people think is wrong. They’re seeing them unfold in front of them, and they want it out in the public, because there seems to be no way to stop it in private,” New York Times national security correspondent Matthew Rosenberg said following the report.

In a statement, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in part, “by grandstanding and politicizing the investigation into Russia’s actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia.”

He went on to say Comey’s firing would not have ended the Russia investigation, and the bigger story is the leaking of highly classified conversations.

Trump has been narrowing a short list and interviewing candidates to replace FBI Director James Comey who he fired May 9.

The president did not announce his pick for FBI director before leaving Friday on his first foreign trip. Trump said Thursday he was “very close” to naming a replacement and that former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman was among his top choices.